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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29351316">The Sharing of Earbuds</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FogDog1738/pseuds/FogDog1738'>FogDog1738</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Teen Wolf Fluffuary 2021 [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Teen Wolf (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Based on a Billie Eilish Song, Derek Hale Calms Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale Has a Crush on Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale and Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale is Bad at Feelings, Fluff, Fluffuary, Love Confessions, M/M, One Shot, Pining Derek Hale, Sharing music, Song: I Love You (Billie Eilish), Stiles Stilinski Has Anxiety, Tumblr Prompt, sterek</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 14:01:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>951</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29351316</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FogDog1738/pseuds/FogDog1738</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles and Derek wait for Lydia at the hospital, and as they wait, they both listen to music.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Teen Wolf Fluffuary 2021 [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2139534</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Fluffuary 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Sharing of Earbuds</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Today's Prompt (2/10): Sharing Music</p><p>(This is based on Billie Eilish's song "I Love You". All credit goes to her for writing this beautiful song.)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Stiles hurries into the hospital, making his way to the front counter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi, I’m looking for a Lydia Martin. Could you point me in her direction?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The nurse behind the counter nods her head, typing something into her computer. Stiles glances around the hospital hurriedly, his breathing heavier than usual.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s currently with a doctor, so she’s unable to be seen at this time. If you’d like, you can sit here and wait for her.” The nurse holds out her hand to point to the chairs behind Stiles. He nods his head quickly and spins around. He freezes at the sight of Derek relaxing in one of the chairs, headphones in his ears. Derek shoots him a slight smile as he sits.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” he lets out, giving Derek a surprised look. Derek doesn’t respond. Stiles reluctantly goes forward to sit in a chair next to the man, his knee bouncing up and down as he anxiously looks around the hospital.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Derek’s head falls forward, his eyes closing as he breathes in deep, letting out a quick huff.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’re you doing here?” Stiles questions.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Derek pulls one of the ear buds out of his ear. He looks over to Stiles as he leans forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “Scott mentioned she was hurt. By the way he described it, it doesn’t sound too serious. But I knew you’d be here and worried, so I came to stop by.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stiles instinctively lets his head jerk back a little at the sentiment of Derek coming to wait here for him. “Um, thanks?” He says, his eyebrows furrowing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’ll be fine; relax,” Derek says, moving his hand to rest on Stiles’ knee, holding it down in a weirdly grounding way. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stiles lets out a small huff, leaning back roughly in his chair. He begins to chew at his thumbnail, staring forward at the people moving around the building. After a few moments, Derek removes his hand from Stiles’ leg, messing around on his phone a little. Stiles steals a look at the screen; Derek is flipping through songs to find one he wants to listen to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After he chooses one and locks his phone, Stiles turns toward Derek. “Hey, you mind?” He asks, pointing toward the bud hanging down at Derek’s side. The man shrugs his shoulder, to which Stiles snatches the wire, pushing the little piece of plastic into his ear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stiles stares down at the floor as a classic rock song plays softly through the headphones. He doesn’t recognize the song, but he can’t stop himself when his head starts bumping back and forth to the beat. Derek side-eyes him, giving him a small grin and raising his eyebrows as if to say ‘yeah, it’s a good song’.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A few more similar songs pass by, Stiles relaxing from the distraction. All of a sudden, a new song starts, providing a massive change of pace. Stiles stops at the relaxing strumming of a guitar flowing into his ears. He breathes in to ask what the song is, but doesn’t go through with it when he notices Derek’s embarrassed look he’s giving the floor. Confusion shapes across Stiles’ face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Stiles prompts. He doesn’t answer the question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The lyrics come quietly into existence, Stiles tilting his head at the story being told. Suddenly, he realizes who’s voice is coming through the headphones. It’s a Billie Eilish song, although Stiles still doesn’t recognize what song of hers it is.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stiles listens to the lyrics closer as the main melody takes over. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Maybe, won’t you take it back; say you were tryin’ to make me laugh, and nothing has to change today. You didn’t mean to say ‘I love you’.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Stiles’ eyebrows furrow at Derek, who is continuing to look down at the floor weirdly, breathing a little heavier. “Something wrong?” He asks again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Derek holds up a finger, telling Stiles to wait a little longer. He continues listening as the song grows bigger and bigger before softening as the end begins.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“There’s nothing you could do or say; I can’t escape the way I love you. I don’t want to, but I love you. Ooo.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>As these lyrics pass by, Derek’s eyes connect with Stiles’. The boy notices the longing in his eyes, his embarrassment fading. Immediately, Stiles recognizes what is happening here. He pulls out the bud from his ear frantically, scooting away from Derek. The man gives him a defeated look, letting his head fall a little more.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stiles’ jaw drops slightly, his eyes wide as he looks at Derek. When was Derek going to mention any of this to him? How long has he felt this way? Why did he choose </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> way to tell him?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Derek,” Stiles breathes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I understand. I’ll be fine.” Derek whispers, turning away from Stiles to face forward in his chair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Something inside of Stiles clicked at how Derek reacted to that. He immediately felt massive amounts of guilt and longingly. How long had </span>
  <em>
    <span>he</span>
  </em>
  <span> felt this way? When did he feel anything more for Derek than being just friends? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” Stiles urges, “Listen, Derek.” He begins to make his way back toward the man as he speaks. “Um, I’m not sure what exactly is happening right now, but like, we can talk about this more, okay?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Derek hesitates a little, continuing to steer clear from looking Stiles in the eye. “Okay,” he whispers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, look, Der. It’s fine. Um, we’ll talk about this more. I promise” Stiles leans forward in his chair, resting his arms in his lap. Derek glances over softly, attempting to give Stiles a small smile. Stiles reciprocates, giving Derek a smile back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A conversation would </span>
  <em>
    <span>definitely</span>
  </em>
  <span> need to be had. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is for the Fluffuary Challenge created by Unsettledink on Tumblr!</p><p>This one was a bit of a rough one to get through in writing, but like...the challenge is to write every day. Not every work has to be amazing. So here it is!</p><p>(I may or may not expand on this idea later...we'll see what happens. Hell, I may even just completely rewrite this one day! Who knows!)</p><p>Comments and shit give me life, so don't be afraid to tell me what you think! &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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